The Financial Monitoring Agency (FMA) has concluded a criminal case against the former head of the Specialised Department (Specialised Public Service Centre) of Ust-Kamenogorsk, a branch of the NJC «Government for Citizens» in the East Kazakhstan Region.
According to the agency's press service, the suspect received remuneration from citizens for assistance in passing the theoretical exam to obtain a driving licence. The criminal income from these actions exceeded 32 million tenge.
As the investigation established, the suspect received the remuneration into his bank account via a mobile application.
«Realising that such income could arouse suspicion from law enforcement agencies, and with the aim of concealing its criminal origin, the suspect repeatedly made transfers between his accounts in the same bank», the statement said.
Furthermore, as part of a parallel financial investigation, agency employees established that the suspect used this money to buy a two-bedroom flat in Ust-Kamenogorsk and, in order to conceal it, registered it in his mother's name.
«Subsequently, this flat was used for daily rental, which brought in additional criminal income amounting to more than 1.2 million tenge», the statement said.
After the pre-trial investigation began, the suspect re-registered the flat to third parties in order to prevent its confiscation.
The court found the suspect guilty and sentenced him to 3 years of restriction of liberty with confiscation of criminally obtained property, namely the two-bedroom flat valued at 19.5 million tenge.
To recap, in April the Anti-Corruption Service identified corruption risks in vehicle registration and the issuance of driving licences at the country's Specialised Public Service Centres. Agency employees entered false data and issued forged documents.
In May, in Astana, workers from a Specialised Public Service Centre, police officers, and civilians who were involved in the illegal registration of vehicles imported from abroad without payment of duties and fees were convicted.
Later, the Almaty Anti-Corruption Service began a pre-trial investigation against the deputy head of Specialised Department No. 1 (Specialised Public Service Centre) for serving the population of the branch of the NJC «State Corporation «Government for Citizens». He is suspected of embezzling 930,000 tenge from an entrepreneur.
In July, FMA employees identified a group of individuals who were illegally registering cars from far abroad. From June to August 2021, the suspects illegally placed more than 150 trucks on initial registration in the Pavlodar region.
In October, in the Karaganda region, the former head of a Specialised Public Service Centre and the deputy head of a Public Service Centre were detained. They are suspected of illegally registering trucks. The damage to the state exceeded 315 million tenge.